No wind for day two of SB20 mid-winters

July 30, 2018

With the River Derwent like a sheet of glass, day two of the inaugural SB20 mid-winter championships on Sunday had to be abandoned, leaving Honeybadger, sailed by Paul Burnell, his sons Oli and Toby and Bayley Fisher as the topscoring boat.
Four races were sailed in an 8-10 knot north to north-westerly breeze on Saturday with Honeybadger setting the pace by taking out the first two races. With a seventh and a fifth to follow, this left Honeybadger with six points clear of their nearest rivals.
Coincidently, the Sandy Bay Sailing Club skipper’s stalwart’s success comes on the eve of the International Cadet world championship in Germany, a title Burnell won twice as a teenager.
With Honeybadger winning the first two races, the first by a mere five seconds, race three went to former champion Sharpie sailor Frazer Read in Pinch.

Race four went to Michael Cooper, helming Export Roo. who finished seventh overall and second Australian boat in the 2018 worlds in Hobart and was runner-up in the 2017 worlds at Cowes, UK.
Overall Honeybadger finished on 14 points (1-1-7-5), Pinch (10-3-1-6) sharing 20 points with the Porco Rosso (Ellliott Noye) who placed 6-6-4.4.
Close behind the three leading boats came Export Roo and Brainwave (Scott Brain) on 21 points, Team Musto (George Peacock) on 22 points and The Monkey Boat (Edward Fader) on 23 points.
Elliott Noye and his crew head off next month to contest the European SB20 championships in Ireland after recently placing second in the Portuguese nationals.
Words: Peter Campbell. Photos: Jane Austin
30 July 2018